DECISIONS AND CONSEQUENCES
by tierra.nueva
Summary: This story presents how Elizabeth worked things out to defend themselves after Jim's arrest.


Two weeks after Jim was imprisoned Eli is analyzing which will be the best the way to cut their losses. Being graduated from the most prestige universities, a former researcher and a remarkable surgeon she has access to the PAIN (Privileged Access Information Network). The governments, controlled by the elite class, prohibited the use of the Internet some decades ago. Since the beginning of the 21th century the Internet became the best mechanism to disperse and promote revolutionary movements, some demanding democracy, but even those liberator movements didn't favored the control that the elite class wants to preserve.

Some social content webpages like and emerged from old and long gone forums like and . LongRoad (a memories webpage) was a more sophisticated webpage and most government institutions incorporated it as part of their filing system. For example, individual and group records from the Department of Education were maintained and stored in this webpage to have a profile of the kids as they grow, what their interest are, etc. It was a useful tool to maintain an eye over those that can cause problems to "society", of course, meaning the elite class. Even the birth, marriage and death certificates were made public through this website.

On the other hand, Clicker, a communication webpage, named after the sound of the dolphins (the more intelligent counterpart of birds) was an improved version of old but directed to the serious discussion and dissemination of diverse politic, religious, economic and social ideas. Webpages like this were the reason to dismantle the Internet infrastructure and limit access to its content to those cleared and approved by the governments. was left behind for the use of artist and other entertainers that only were useful to distract the people attention from the important issues.

Once you enter the PAIN main page you see a prominent link to the Population Control Agency (PCA) website. The public policy regarding overpopulation was more than evident everywhere you look. There was no way to ignore it and the government wants to remind everyone the consequences of breaking the law. In all the bulletin boards everyone can read the "CRACKING DOWN OVERPOPULATION THROUGH HARSH PRISON SENTENCES AND HEAVY FINES" banner together with the "FAMILY IS 4" and "OVERPOPULATION EQUALS EXTINCTION" posters.

Even those that have access to the PAIN, which are considered precious resources for the establishment because of the investment in their education, were reminded that the government didn't want to lose them just for the sentimentalism of having illegal babies. After just two clicks, the text of the Population Control Law (PCL) was in front of her. The introduction of the law leaves little hope to find a loophole to their situation. It was clear that having illegal babies was considered one of the worst crimes against society and even the human race survival.

Among the prohibitions listed on the introduction of the law were:

Single parents

Non-married parents

Minor parents

Use of artificial pregnancy or fertility methods

Surrogate mothers

More than two children per marriage

Divorce, with exceptions related to the mental health of any of the spouses

To correct the conception of illegal children the measures ranged from such extreme ones as abortion to more lenient ones like giving the opportunity to the single or unmarried parents to get officially married. In the case of babies that already have born measures such as taking the babies from the natural parents to give them in adoption to couples with fertility problems are common. In some cases it's allowed that the children are given to other members of the family of the natural parents. This looked like the glow of the flame of a match inside a cave to Eli, but at least it was something she can work with. High fines were always a part of the sentences while jail was used mostly for the second-offenders or those who use the violence to prevent the enforcement of the law. The use of force and violence against the authorities was considered an aggravator to be considered when judging the violations to the law. This was the issue that worried Eli the most.

Eli quickly browse the text to read the possible three sections they can use for the violations they may accused for, not considering the aggravator of Jim attack to the PCA officers. She focus on those sections that may be applied to her, they read as follows:

Use of artificial pregnancy or fertility methods – By any circumstances it could be applied or pay to be applied any artificial method to improve fertility or to prevent spontaneous abortions on women with fertility or pregnancy problems. Those who violate this section will be subject to the fines described in the Fines Chapter.

Surrogate mothers – By any circumstance a fertile woman can't be hired nor she can accept pay to act as surrogate mother. This section applies even for families with less than two children. Those families should follow the procedure described in the Child Adoption Policy Chapter. Those who violate this section will be subject to the fines described in the Fines Chapter. Those children conceived by a surrogate mother will be given to the natural parents, subject to the children limit establishes below. In case the natural parents decide not to accept the child, the surrogate mother can keep it subject to the same limits. If the surrogate mother want not or cannot have the child she can choose a married member of her family to adopt the child. Otherwise, the child will be consider a TBA (To be Adopted) child and will be added in the register and taken under custody of the State.

From the text of the first section it looks that it is directed towards the doctors that applied the method and to the persons that pay for it, this section possibly can't be applied to her. The second one clearly applies to her.

Next, she read the section about children limits, it was clear to her that there is no way to deny this charge. It read as follows:

More than two children per marriage – By any circumstances no married couple can have more than two children of their own. Even in the exceptional case of a divorce any of the members of the new marriage can't have more than two children, nor can the sum of the living children of both spouses exceed two. Those who violate this section will be subject to the fines described in the Fines Chapter.

Eli read this section over and over again, there is something in the text that caught her attention, however, she didn't know what. Suddenly she noticed those three words "of their own". Eli wasn't a woman of law, but being married with a cop she often heard Jim's complains about how cases are lost in the Courts just because a technicality, a single word or phrase may change or clarify the intention of the law, for his opinion, too often in favor criminals. Those three words gave her a possible solution to their situation.

Zoe wasn't her natural child, she wasn't of their own. If she confesses that, they can't be processed under that section. The artificial methods would be inapplicable to them neither, so the only section applicable to their situation would be the surrogate mother section. She would "confess" that she lied to Jim and made him believe that Zoe was her daughter. She would say that she told Jim that the income to move to their new house was the result of the higher salary she supposedly get when she transfer to the trauma center. Of course, all this was false, but the only persons that knew the truth were dead.

The surrogate mothers section only includes fines as punishment, much lower than the children limit section fines, so she can work things out to handle that. She only regrets that now her family is not offering her the support they need. Since she rejected Malcolm and later married Jim the relation with her parents was fairly distant. However, when they knew of the charges against their daughter and Jim they decided to cut completely any communication with her. She has a married sister, no children, they didn't know why but they didn't really care too much. They are focused on their professions, they have expressed her that they if in the future they managed to have a baby that will be their only one. She can convince her to adopt Zoe. She'll make the commitment that she will cover the expenses, she will not be a charge for them, she even will live with her together with Josh & Maddy. The law doesn't require that the adopted child have to live with the adoptive parents, it is just a formality so the government have someone to go against in case of child abuse or negligence or if the child commit a crime in the future.

Everything seems to be under control, she just has to maintain his credibility. She has to convince Jim that's the only solution. She can't hesitate in front of the judge. She changed her mind about telling Maddy and Josh the truth about Zoe when the Fernsbys die, so they didn't have to lie. She will assume all the responsibility for Zoe's birth. However, the violent reaction of Jim was the only unresolved issue. Attacking any government officer was considered a serious crime by itself, if you add that they were PCA officers the situation gets worst. Eli then browses to the Jail Sentences Chapter. There she read the following:

Attack and use of violence against PCA officers to prevent the enforcement of this law – Any person that resist or challenge the authority of PCA officers by the way of a violent attack to them will be subject to a minimum of 5 years up to a maximum of 20 years of imprisonment, without the right to parole or to sentence reduction based on good behavior.

When she read that she felt her heart broken. If only Jim had control himself. She didn't know whether to hate him of to feel pity of him. Prisons in 2147 were considered an expense for the governments and their conditions were not the best. She wasn't sure if they have systems to purify the air the breath or the water they drink. An extended sentence, even a short one, can be considered as a death sentence given the environmental conditions a prisoner may have to face. She still loves Jim no matter what. She knew that he did what he did because he loves Zoe. She was afraid of not being with Jim again. She didn't imagine then how close they would be from being separate forever.

There's no more to analyze, Decisions were taken, Consequences will be face.


End file.
